


I should have told you

by Polyhexian



Series: Live Every Day Like Your Mom Said it Was Alright [7]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy (Cartoon)
Genre: Alcohol, Cussing, Cybertron timeline, M/M, Post Series, it's time for feelings talk, referenced past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22447699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian
Summary: "Did you guys used to date or something?" Hot Shot interjected, and both of them jumped like he had just poured a bucket of ice water in their laps."What? No, we didn't-" Rodimus blurted."What? I mean, yes-" Drift started at the same time.
Relationships: Rodimus & Drift
Series: Live Every Day Like Your Mom Said it Was Alright [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1596922
Comments: 5
Kudos: 137





	I should have told you

**Author's Note:**

> This is set during Whirl's birthday party from a previous fic "we can go to the rodeo after I pick up her medicine" but you don't NEEEEED to read that to understand this. It's a party. Whirl is there. Rescue bots whirl is his daughter and she's there. She brought hot shot because he thinks rodimus is cool. That's the connection but I still felt like setting it in this series lol

Drift laughed, slamming his drink down on the bar to avoiding spilling it as he leaned forward, hiccupping giggles, "I did  _ not _ !"

"Oh, you totally did," Rodimus scoffed, rolling his optics, "I thought you  _ knew _ ."

"No!" Drift continued to giggle, "No one ever told me!"

"Roddy, if I had  _ known _ that guy's energon stained my aft pink, I would  _ not _ have gone to Swerve's after that fight. Absolutely not!"

"Oh, Primus," Rodimus snickered, "All this time I thought you did it on purpose, as some kind of statement, like daring someone to mention it.or something."

"And no one did!" Hot Shot laughed, sitting on the bar so he was optic level with the two much taller adult mechs he was sitting with.

"Nope," confirmed Rodimus, "you see this guy now, you're like wow, he's so gentle, so delicate, so-"

"Oh, god, Roddy, I am  _ no _ -"

"You're like what a teddy bear!" Rodimus continued, unabated, "But back in the day? He was  _ terrifying _ ! No one wanted to get on his bad side!"

"Because you used to be a Decepticon?" Hot Shot asked, kicking his pedes back and forth.

"Oh, he wishes," Rodimus rolled his eyes, "No, because he carried a sword with him everywhere and loved getting an excuse to show off."

"As if you didn't love an excuse to show off yourself!" Drift teased, prodding him with his elbow. 

"Hey, when did I say I wasn't an attention whore?" Rodimus snorted.

"Roddy! Language," Drift hissed through his smile, nodding at the kid on the counter.

"Sorry, bud," Rodimus said.

"I know the word whore," Hot Shot said quickly, "I know plenty of bad words."

"Oh yeah?" asked Rodimus.

"Oh, no," Drift moaned.

"Which ones?" Rodimus continued.

"Uh, I know damn, botch, and I know fuck-"

"He knows fuck!" Rodimus howled, "He said the fuck word!"

"Oh my  _ god _ , Roddy, don't encourage him," Drift turned to Hot Shot, "Cussing isn't cool."

"Aw, Drift, look at this kid!" Rodimus waved at him, "He knows what's cool. Look how cool this kid is. He's an athlete."

"You know, I always thought you should have been an athlete," Drift said, as Hot Shot opened his mouth to try to respond to that assertion, and then closed it, not wanting to talk over two of the most interesting famous people he'd ever met.

"That really would have set my ego off," Rodimus said, rolling his eyes. 

"Yeah, but you probably would have liked it."

"Ah, well, I liked what I did anyway. The Lost Light was great, and like, being on Thunderclash's crew, you know- it's not as fun, but, I think it's probably been good for me."

"I'm glad," said Drift, smiling, "I hoped you would be happy, at least."

"Thank you," said Rodimus, returning the smile.

"Did you guys used to date or something?" Hot Shot interjected, and both of them jumped like he had just poured a bucket of ice water in their laps.

"What? No, we didn't-" Rodimus blurted.

"What? I mean, yes-" Drift started at the same time.

Both of them stopped, staring at each other awkwardly. 

"Oh, yikes," Hot Shot said, grimacing, "uh, I'm just gonna take the L on that one and go like. Over there for a bit." He slid off the bar to the floor and then reached back up for the cube of non-engex Waspinator had given him, skedoodling right out of that nonsense.

"No?" Drift asked, when Hot Shot was gone, sounding hurt.

"I didn't mean  _ no _ ," Rodimus stammered, "I just thought that's what you would want me to say."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, we… I mean, we weren't  _ dating _ ." Rodimus's shoulder hiked inward, and he took a quick gulp from his tankard, "It wasn't… official, you know?"

"True," Drift mused, and put a servo on Rodimus' arm when he went to finish the pint, gently reminding him to take it easy. "But I still feel it mattered enough to acknowledge it was something real."

"Oh," said Rodimus, "That's kind of relieving."

"Did you not think I did?" Drift asked, a little taken aback.

"I don't know," Rodimus started, "I just figured- I mean, imagine if I said yes and you didn't like, want people to know about that. It would put you in an awkward position, you know?"

Drift sipped his engex thoughtfully, watching Rodimus pick at some chipped paint on the bar for a moment. "I appreciate the thought. I don't regret spending my time with you, though, and I don't have a problem with people knowing."

"Cool," said Rodimus, playing it cool as always. Drift smiled, despite himself.

"You know, I expected you to ask me to be your Amica," Drift observed, and couldn't help but laugh when Rodimus choked on his drink.

"You did?"

"Oh, sure. I was waiting for it."

"You don't think I would have asked you to be my Conjunx instead?"

"No," Drift shook his head, "Even you could see that wasn't the way we were. We were just weird about it."

"Huh," Rodimus mused, "how come you never asked  _ me,  _ then?"

"I wanted you to ask me," Drift shrugged. "Things seemed impossible to broach at the time, for some reason. Like trying to stick polarized magnets against eachother."

"Huh. Well, that sucks," Rodimus laughed.

"Why is that?"

"I never asked you because I was sure you would say no," Rodimus lamented, "I thought you would be disappointed I wasn't asking you to be my Conjunx."

"You always were a bit self defeatist about such things," Drift sighed, "and terrifically self-depriciative when you wanted to be." 

"It's the narcissism," Rodimus chuckled, "don't you know I'm the only one allowed to be a jerk?"

"Oh, yeah," Drift agreed primly, "I know."

"God, we were so weird," Rodimus sighed, "I knew how to touch your butt, but I didn't know how to talk to you at all."

"You spoke to me in the way you knew how," Drift mused, "I don't blame you for not doing things you didn't know how to do."

"You think maybe we would have been better at communicating if we hadn't met in the middle of a war?" Rodimus asked.

"A fair thought," Drift said, swirling his drink, "though I suppose it still depends much upon circumstance."

Rodimus glanced over at Hot Shot, who had returned to following Whirl's weird scraplet kid around like a lost turbofox. "Maybe if we were forged today. Things seem a lot easier now. Look at these kids, you know? No idea what the war was like. They get to be something else beyond that."

"It's nice," Drift agreed, following Rodimus' optics to the sparklings antics, "I think we probably would have still gotten in a few fistfights." Drift chuckled at the idea, imagining the two of them going to Optimus's rescue bot school on Earth, speedster sparklings ready to prove they were cooler than each other.

"Yeah, but I would have let you win some to impress you," Rodimus grinned cheekily, and Drift kicked him playfully in the shin.

"As if."

"Man, it's crazy about Whirl and Cyclonus and Tailgate, right? Like after all this time."

"I suppose sometimes feelings don't go away just because people do, and they come back just as quickly when they're real."

Rodimus processed his words for a moment, before tilting his head at him, a silent question.

"I mean to say," Drift clarified, putting his drink down, "If you wanted to start again, figure out who we are without a war or a quest, then, perhaps. Well, perhaps."

"Perhaps?"

"I should have asked you to be my Amica then," Drift said, "I think I'd still very much like it now." 

Rodimus' optics brightened, and he pushed his engex away, suddenly uninterested. "I missed you, too."

"See?" Drift smiled, "You  _ are _ learning to communicate."


End file.
